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Nutrition Checklist

Good health starts with good nutrition, and getting well-balanced meals and plenty of nutritious snacks is an important building block for a healthy lifestyle. Here are a few easy tips for all ages that will help make over your health by making over your diet.

1) Plan for good nutrition
the day can fill up pretty quickly, but good nutrition is something you should always make time for eating right. When you're planning meals, it's always important to start with a fruit or vegetable.
A good rule of thumb for your plate is half of the plates should be vegetables, a fourth whole grains and a fourth a protein source. If you're having something like stir fry, you want to load up on your vegetables.
In between meals, snack on fruit, cheese and whole grain crackers.
And make dinner a family affair, dinnertime should be a daily activity that involves sitting down at the table as a family.

2) Get good info
With all the fad diets and nutrition advice out there, it can be hard to sort out fact from fiction. But eating right is a lot easier than it seems.
Avoid fad diets and processed foods. Try to consume the majority of your foods in the unprocessed state and include plant foods with all meals.
And while making healthy decisions, it's important to not label foods as good or bad.
This gives children the idea that certain foods are forbidden and should not be eaten. If there is a type of food you absolutely don't want your child to eat then you can tell them it is only a special occasion food or a food that they can eat when they visit a friend.

3) Win over your picky eater
eating vegetables sounds like a great idea, but what do you do when you have a picky eater that claims to be allergic to anything green?
Eat your vegetables!" seems to be every mom's battle cry at dinner time, but there's no need to battle. Instead, offer children food and set a rule that while they don't have to eat it, they're also not allowed to whine or cry. Instead of forcing them to try something, the best thing for them is to see you enjoying healthy food.
The child already has it in their mind that the food is unappetizing and likely will not enjoy that bite. It often takes up to 20 tries before a child will accept a food. It takes patience!
But parents shouldn't cater to the children's preference.
Tell them the food they can eat for that meal is on the table. If they don't want to eat the food, then just tell them they'll have to wait till snack time to have something else to eat. These are not easy strategies but when you apply them on a regular basis they really do work.

4) Teach healthy habits for the long run
Kids copy everything their parents do, including their eating habits.
Offer healthy foods and eat them yourself.
Make healthy eating fun by taking them to the farmer's market experimenting with new recipes and making special, healthy dinners together.

Learn more about this author, A. South.
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